BRIDGEPORT, Pa. – For the first time in the history of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame an active head coach will join the ranks of the organization's best-of the-best as United States Naval Academy alumnus and current Midshipmen head coach Luis Nicolao ('92) during the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship weekend.
 
Navy will host the MAWPC Championship on Friday-Sunday, November 20-22, at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md., barring a postponement brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The second Navy water polo athlete to make the Hall of Fame joining current Midshipmen assistant coach Tom Popp (inducted in 2008), Nicolao is the third Navy affiliated individual to join the group and the second head coach following former United States Naval Academy head coach Mike Schofield (induced in 2014). Further, his selection puts both the former (Schofield) and current (Nicolao) head coaches of the Midshipmen along with one of the team's assistant coaches (Popp) in the HOF.
 
His selection is based exclusively on Nicolao's playing career at the Navy, although his coaching career at both Princeton and Navy are Hall-of-Fame worthy in their own right.
 
As a student-athlete at Navy, Nicolao was a three-time All-America (Third Team – 1990, '91; Honorable Mention – 1989) and All-East (First Team – 1989, '90, '91) selection for the Midshipmen, graduating as the school's all-time leader in points (377) and goals scored (282). During the course of his career, Navy won two Eastern Championships (1988, '90) and reached the NCAA Championship Tournament on three occasions (1988, '90, '91). He was named the CWPA Eastern MVP in both 1990 and 1991, while earning CWPA First-Team All-East accolades for three straight seasons (1989, '90, '91). In addition, Nicolao served as the team captain as a senior during a 1991 season capped off by claiming NCAA Championship All-Tournament Second Team laurels.
 
As a senior, Nicolao earned the Naval Academy Athletic Association's Sword for Men as the top graduating male athlete in 1992.
 
His 95 goals in 1990 and 81 goals in 1991 are second and seventh, respectively, on Navy's single season list, while his 118 points in 1990 and 114 points in 1991 are fourth and fifth, respectively, all-time for a single year in Midshipmen history.
 
Overall, Nicolao becomes the 38th member of the CWPA Hall of Fame as the list of honorees includes: Richard Hunkler (Slippery Rock / Coach, 2002), Dick Russell (Bucknell / Coach, 2002), Lynn Kachmarik (Slippery Rock / Athlete; Bucknell / Coach, 2003), Ed Reed (Brown / Coach, 2003), John Barrett (Maryland / Athlete, 2004), Paul Barren (West Chester / Referee, 2004), Sue Kolczak (Slippery Rock / Athlete, 2005), George Gross (Yale / Athlete, 2005), Robbie Bova (Slippery Rock / Athlete, 2006), Scott Schulte (Bucknell / Athlete, 2006), Katie Grogan (UMass / Athlete, 2007), Russ Yarworth (UMass / Coach, 2007), Betsey Armstrong (Michigan / Athlete, 2008), Tom Popp (Navy / Athlete, 2008), Diane Stein Swigart (Slippery Rock / Athlete, 2009), Lars Enstrom (Brown / Athlete, 2009), Leslie Entwistle (Slippery Rock / Athlete, 2010), Chris Judge (Fordham / Athlete, 2010), Carrie Basye-Becker (Slippery Rock, Maryland / Athlete, 2011), John Benedick (MIT / Coach, Administrator, 2011), Kristin Stanford (Indiana / Athlete, 2012), Mark Gensheimer (Bucknell / Athlete, 2012), Adele McCarthy-Beauvais (Princeton / Athlete, 2013), Simon Gould (Little Rock / Athlete, 2013), Tom Tracey (Villanova / Director of Officials, 2014), Mike Schofield (Navy / Coach, 2014), Goga Vukmirovic (Princeton / Athlete, 2015), Rich Russey (Brown / Athlete, 2015), Shana Welch (Michigan / Athlete, 2016), Tony Paxton (Bucknell / Athlete, 2016), Krista Peterson Polvi (Indiana / Athlete, 2017), Jeff Hilk (Bucknell / Athlete, 2017), Patricia Ann "Trish" McGuire (Slippery Rock / Athlete, 2018), Steve Ennis (Brown / Athlete, 2018), Elyse Colgan (Princeton / Athlete, 2019), Garrin Kapecki (Bucknell / Athlete, 2019), and Julie Hyrne (Michigan / Athlete, 2020).
 
Luis Nicolao Career Statistics
1988 – 45 goals, 17 assists, 62 points
1989 – 61 goals, 22 assists, 83 points
1990 – 95 goals, 23 assists, 118 points
1991 – 81 goals, 33 assists, 114 points
Career – 282 goals, 95 assists, 377 points